


gradually, then all all at once

by pheonix85



Series: fall together [2]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Families of Choice, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Light Angst, Time Skips, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-12
Updated: 2019-03-12
Packaged: 2019-11-16 01:07:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18084470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pheonix85/pseuds/pheonix85
Summary: Tony Stark is only supposed to go to Afghanistan for a few weeks. but that turns into a few months. and whatthatturns into, wellthat'll affect the Parker's and the Stark's lives forever





	gradually, then all all at once

**Author's Note:**

> the title is a knockoff of a hemingway/john green line.
> 
> i recommend reading the first part of the story. the CliffNotes version is, as commenter Mrs_N_Uzumaki (i hope it's okay I included you here, I just wanted to give credit!), this is like that Paul Rudd, Role Model's movie, except the PG version where a troubled Tony get's assigned to mentor/Big Brother for a 5 year old Peter and they end up becoming close. This and subsequent parts will pick up when his assigned hours end.
> 
> there's a lot of May & Tony friendship here too---I found I really love it, and so it's gonna be featured a lot. there will be no May/Tony romance, as a heads up if that's what you're looking for. 
> 
> This has taken me literally all night to upload, the archive is angry at me I think. it is unbeta'd so if you see something egregious, please let me know.

**August 2008**

 

Peter knew something had happened when Aunt May pulled him out of class early.

 

Aunt May  _never_  got him from school early. He had missed a few days of school when Uncle Ben had died but that had been all. She was usually so busy with the hospital, the school was an important way for her to be able to work and have him being looked after at the same time. Especially when Tony didn’t live in the city and Mrs. Leeds was busy at work herself.

 

But when his name had blared through the PA system echoing in his classroom, everyone had turned to look at him. Ned, in the seat next to him, gazed with eyes wide and an open mouth.

 

“Don’t say it, Ned,” Peter said softly, reaching down to grab his backpack. “I’ll see if Aunt May will let me call you later, okay?”

 

Ned closed his mouth and nodded, and the classroom watched, rapt with attention as he left into the hall.

 

Everyone knew, of course, that Peter was friends with Tony Stark. Tony’s sentencing had been public, and the first couple of appearances he’d had out with Peter had made some celebrity news blogs and spots on page 6 until they realized he wasn’t actually going to illustriously self-destruct---then, his “glorified babysitting” job, as the papers liked to phrase it, just got boring to them.

 

But it was more than that. He knew that Mr. Stark didn’t just think of him as something he had to do. He knew, with what happened last year, Mr. Staa while for a while, but all of that had been sorted out and the last few months of their time together when he was in the city had been so much fun and so great and then----

 

And then. Peter swallowed hard as he walked down the empty halls, remembering the day Ms. Potts had shown up at their apartment. Ms. Potts was always a very put together sort of lady---Aunt May would sometimes tease her about it, saying it was a miracle if she herself ever wore makeup with a fresh hairdo and a nice outfit all at once---“ _2 out of three_!” May would say with a laugh, and Ms. Potts would shake her head and they would do that weird thing old people did about trying to one-up each other with compliments.

 

She was still put together, that day in the beginning of June, but it was different now. Ms. Potts, in that moment, stood straight, her movements jerky and mechanical. May had offered her coffee or tea and she had declined shortly. Peter had known something was wrong immediately, because Ms. Potts never had come to their apartment before, and he couldn’t imagine her coming without Mr. Stark. She sat down on the couch with May, and they sat Peter down across from them and very calmly and very directly, Ms. Potts told him there had been an “incident” with Mr. Stark’s trip to Afghanistan.

 

He’d been so confused. Ms. Potts hadn’t been able to stay long but she’d wanted to tell them in person. That Mr. Stark had gotten lost. That they were doing everything they could to find him. And that if anything changed, she would make sure they were one of the first people they called, hopefully before the news got out anywhere else.

 

But those calls never came.

 

Peter spent every night that summer, coming home from whatever he was doing, turning on CNN and making sure he would hear if there was an update. Sometimes, there would be hints. There would be hope, because they hadn’t found any sign of him at all, that maybe he was still out there somewhere---Peter hadn’t fully understood what that meant but something about the way the news person said it made him sick to his stomach with worry, and May had sent him to bed early, and put a cap on how much news he could watch from then on.

 

It didn’t change anything. Peter’s 7th birthday had come and gone last week, and Mr. Stark still wasn’t home.

 

“Aunt May,” he’d asked, only a few days ago. “Mr. Stark isn’t coming home, is he?”

 

May had put her fork down and looked at him for a few quiet moments. He knew she didn’t want to lie to him. She knew he understood the seriousness of this. “I don’t know, sweetie. But what I do know, is that if anyone can survive being lost in a strange place for this long, it’s Tony Stark.”

 

Now, he approached the main office. Through the glass panelling, he could see the back of his Aunt, could tell her arms were crossed and her shoulders were bunched together. He tried to calm himself down. He tried to think only good things. He tried to keep his nose from tickling the way it did when he got upset.

 

He opened the door and stepped into the office, and May turned. It was empty, thank goodness, save for the administrators behind the desk, who all turned to watch the interaction intently.

 

“Peter,” May breathed, her eyes shiny with tears. “Peter, they found Tony. He’s coming home. He’s alright, he’s coming home.”

 

And only then, after all of this, did Peter let himself cry.

 

* * *

 

Pepper was sending May information as often as she could, with updates every couple of hours. Peter expected it, because Tony had been gone so long, and he had a really important job, so he knew Tony just couldn’t come straight to New York, but Pepper assured him that Tony had asked about him and May, that he would call after the dust settled and that he would try to visit as soon as business was on stable ground.

 

Peter understood all of it. But he still wanted to see Tony; wanted to hear him. California was hours behind New York, and the press conference would not be until 7 pm East Coast time, but May was fine with leaving the television on during dinner for when they spoke.

 

It was unexpected. It was early, but the news station flashed  ** _BREAKING NEWS_**  hours earlier than they thought it would, and there he was, being led out of a black Rolls Royce, his arm bound in a sling. Tony was dressed like normal, his hair combed back and wearing a sharp suit, but Peter swallowed hard. He knew Mr. Stark. His face was marred with knicks and cuts and he looked tired and he looked…

 

He looked tired and worried, and kinda sad. But, Peter supposed, anyone lost in the desert for a long while would be, right?

 

May let him slip away from the table and he positioned himself in front of the television while she sat back on the couch, legs curled under a throw. Tony began to talk to the camera’s, sitting everyone down on the ground, talking about  _his father_  of all things. Tony had never mentioned his dad to Peter, Peter hadn’t even really thought about Mr. Stark having one, but he knew that Mr. Stark’s parents had died when he was young too, kinda like Peter’s.

 

Peter waited, silent, as Tony stood, and crumpled up the paper of his hamburger wrapper, throwing it to the tall, bald man beside him.

 

“Effective immediately, I am shutting down the weapon’s manufacturing arm of Stark Industries.”

 

And the whole room started to yell.

 

Peter’s brow furrowed and he turned to his Aunt; her reaction made his frown deepen, because her mouth was hanging open. “Aunt May, why are they all yelling at him? Ms. Potts looks like she’s gonna be sick,  _what does that mean?_ ”

 

She sat silent for a moment, before closing her mouth and staring at the screen for a few more seconds. She sat up, crossing her legs in front of her, looking at Peter. “I think it means that Mr. Stark...experienced something very difficult these last few months.” She bunched up the throw in her lap and patted the spot beside her. “How about you come up here and we can talk about it a little more?”

 

* * *

 

A week or so later, Peter stood with May in front of a shop, televisions facing the street with other gathered around. Tony Stark was yet again at a press conference, in a suit, but this time looking way more rested, like there wasn’t anything he didn’t know.

 

That made Peter feel better. Mr. Stark had video called him a few days ago, but he’d sounded tired and distant, kinda like he wasn’t paying all that much attention, and he’d told Peter and May he was working on something…kind of big, even if he couldn’t tell them what it was. He’d smiled only near the end of the call, when he told Peter he’d see them soon, as soon as he got things settled.

 

On the television, Peter watched as Mr. Stark set whatever cards had been given to him down and stood straighter, looking at the lady reporter who had been asking him questions.   
  


“The truth is...I am Iron Man.”

 

And the yelling started again, but Peter didn’t look up at his Aunt for an explanation because he didn’t need to. He could only grin.

 

His friend... _was a superhero_.

 

* * *

 

**Spring 2009**

 

May didn’t know how much more of this she could take.

 

She had grown fond of Tony Stark in the years since he’d become an extension of her family. The program that had introduced him into their lives was still a part of their lives----this March had marked an inaugural event, the opening of a new and improved Community Center, completely renovated from the inside out. Peter had had to wear a suit, May had gotten to dress up, it had been a whirlwind evening of press and a fancy dinner, and May had felt pretty out of place, save for Pepper at her side, guiding them through it all.

 

Tony was different though. Though May had witnessed a humbling of the man throughout the time of his probation, he still very clearly enjoyed some aspect of being notorious and his newly established persona facilitated that quite effectively.

 

He wasn’t exactly like that around them.

 

Around Peter and herself, he was the same as he had been right before Afghanistan, if not better----more cautious, more understanding; there was always something about the way he would speak to her, a somber edge to anything he said, and she knew that whatever had happened to him in Afghanistan, the experience followed him wherever he went.

 

But he had another face, another Tony that he shared with the world. May had her doubts over whether or not he wholly enjoyed the attention---knowing him now for a few years, she expected that he rather enjoyed the act, the fleece of it all, the fact that no one really knew who he was unless he was going to allow it.

 

It didn’t mean he didn’t still have fun with it from time to time.

 

Peter’s school had held a field day last October, and they had extended the invite to Tony since he had missed a lot while he was away. He showed up late.

 

 _In his Iron Man suit_.

 

Peter and his friends had completely lost their minds. May had only glared.

 

“What?” Tony had asked, the face-plate snapping up to reveal an exaggerated expression of fake concern. The mechanical suit whirred and clanked when he’d held his arms out in a confused gesture. “I missed his birthday party, so when he invited me to this I thought…” He motioned with his arms to fill in the blanks with a grin.

 

“C’mon Aunt May!” Peter exclaimed, popping out from the crowd of his classmates surrounding Tony’s armor.

 

“Yeah, c’mon Aunt May.” Tony echoed with a grin, and she scowled at him when he continued. “You  _said_ , during the Power Rangers party, you  _said_ I could bring a superhero to one of his next ones, so…” And he’d done this weird, gallant bow that had made all of Peter’s friends giggle and really, how was she supposed to deal with that?

 

In short: Tony Stark was going to drive her insane.

 

“Aunt May, Aunt May, LOOK!” Peter flung the door to their apartment open and rushed inside, only to have Tony swagger in shortly after, a satisfied grin on his face and his hands stuffed into his pockets. She eyed him suspiciously, but turned her attention to Peter, who had two lanyards in his hands, waving them wildly around.

 

“Oh hey, what do we have here?” She asked, taking them from her nephew. She sighed deeply.

 

An entire year long pass to the Stark Expo. She gave him a weary look but Tony only grinned wider.

 

“And!” He began, coming around the kitchen counter. “I have two extra for Ellen when you see her again, so you guys can take the boys or she can take both of them, or you can take both of them, or just call me, or Happy, or even Pepper, if they want to come down, we can….”

 

“Tony.” She smiled tightly. “What have we discussed about gifts?”  
  


He frowned. “This isn’t a gift, really May. It’s  _my_  Expo.” He winked down at Peter, who still looked absolutely enamored with the idea. “That there entitles you to the complete VIP experience, so when I’m in town, I can take you guys backstage, you can meet our guest speakers if you’d like, did you know, Elon Musk is gonna be in town over the summer…”

 

May sighed, pressing a hand to her forehead.

 

It was going to be a long year.

 

* * *

 

Peter was pretty sure Mr. Stark wasn’t feeling well.

 

He was acting all weird. Peter and Aunt May were backstage the night Expo opened. Mt. Stark had come off stage with a grin and a swagger, but he’d been all sweaty and while his Aunt was talking to Pepper, he followed Mr. Stark down the hall and watched at the man leaned against the wall, catching his breath and working at the neck of his shirt. He knew there were moments when Mr. Stark was different than he was with he and his Aunt, and this must be one of those times.

 

Tony had turned, and when he’d seen him, straightened up, stuffing something back into his pocket. “Hey, kiddo, I didn’t know you were back there.” He smiled at Peter, but Peter could tell it wasn’t all there. Tony kneeled in front of him. “Where is your Aunt, buddy?”

 

Peter looked up at his friend, and frowned. He could see the shirt unbuttoned, revealing the man’s undershirt, and what looked to be an Etch a Sketch pattern in the middle of his chest.  “What is that?”  
  


Tony looked down, then back up at him, laughing a little. “Oh it’s...I just rubbed up against something wrong. Just a rash, nothing to worry about.” He buttoned his shirt back up then looked back at Peter. “Hey, let’s go find Aunt May, huh? I bet she’s worried.”

 

She hadn’t been, turned out. Peter knew his Aunt and Ms. Potts had become friends. Sometimes, Ms. Potts would come over when Mr. Stark wasn’t even in town and hang out with Aunt May, and watch TV and have dinner and drink wine. But he thought that was okay. He liked that they all were friends.

 

It was, really, kind of a family.

 

Tony showed them to an area behind the main stage where there was a whole bunch of food and soda and stuff and told them to fill up before going back out into the crowds. He then told them that he had to go, had to head back to California before going overseas, and that he would be back in a few weeks, and that he’d see Peter then.

 

And then, Peter was even more sure he wasn’t feeling well, because Peter was watching the news and he was pretty sure Mr. Stark was going a little crazy.

 

He drove a race car, completely without warning. Then there was a guy, with these weird wires that almost hurt him and Ms. Potts, and Happy! And then, he and Mr. Rhodes got into a fight a few days later, and Peter didn’t know a lot, but he knew that that just didn’t seem like Mr. Stark.

 

Aunt May didn’t seem so convinced. He’d overheard her on the phone with Ms. Potts, her door not completely closed, pacing in her room.

 

“Pep, I gotta tell you, that stunt he pulled at his birthday thing? It’s kind of….”

 

A pause.

 

“I know you know. And I know, just hearing you talk about it, it’s completely…...me too! I thought he was better too, but the way you and Jim tell it, I gotta say, I’m worried.”

 

Peter had slunk back to his room then. His stomach knotted up. Surely, even if Mr. Stark was having kind of a bad time, surely these couple of things wouldn’t make May stop coming around?

 

But then, Ms. Potts had told them she would be there with Mr. Rhodes, and Aunt May had agreed to meet up for some discussions and meet them backstage to talk about it some more. He liked Mr.Rhodes. He was sure with him there, at least, everything would work itself out.

 

* * *

 

Peter had recognized the Hammer man on stage as someone Mr. Stark talked about but didn’t seem to like very much. His impressions of the man always made Peter laugh, even if he didn’t know who the man was, but Peter could tell now that this man was silly, and not at all like Mr. Stark, and he decided he didn’t really like him all that much then either.

 

And then Mr. Stark had shown up, and everyone had cheered.

 

“Oh, no…” Pepper breathed, standing on the other side of Aunt May and sounding irritated. Peter didn’t take his eyes off the Iron Man armor. He climbed onto his chair and stood up, arching up onto the balls of his feet with a grin. He was wearing an Iron Man mask Mr. Stark had given him for Christmas, and the eye slits were hard to completely see through, but he was there, turning to the Hammer man and Mr. Rhodes, waving out at the crowd.

 

Surely, if he were sick, he wouldn’t have shown up.

 

Aunt May grabbed his arm. “Peter, be care----”

 

She was interrupted by the loud clank’s of the robots on stage coming to attention, their weapons pointing out into the crowd. He heard Mr. Rhodey’s voice yelling over the speakers, saw Mr. Stark take off into the air and then everything went crazy.

 

Pepper and Happy headed towards the stage, but Aunt May took a hold of his hand, helping him off the chair and onto the ground before running with the crowd towards the exits.

 

He’d never seen her look so scared. Her eyes were wide, darting around, and Peter’s legs, they just weren’t long enough. He tripped, their hands separating and she must not have noticed, because when he got to his feet, she was nowhere in sight.

 

He knew though, as soon as she would notice he was gone, he knew she would come back to look for him, so he knew what he needed to do was to stay in one place and wait, so she knew where to look.

 

The Hammer drones were landing all around the pavilion. Peter could hear the screaming people all around him.

 

He heard a loud  ***thunk***  behind him and he spun around, finding himself face to face with one of the drones itself. His heart began to race fast, and he didn’t know what to do. The machine muttered something and he saw the big gun on it’s back point down at him, and all he could think of was to hold out his makeshift blaster and----

 

The sound of a blaster fired and he winced, but the Hammer drone fell over in front of him instead, a hollow, burning hole in the middle of it’s chest. Peter jumped back, amazed because…

 

“Nice work, kid.”

 

Peter looked up in awe. For one amazing moment, this wasn’t Tony; this wasn’t the man who took him to baseball games, and bought him ice cream and came over once a month for Sunday night dinners. 

 

This was  _ Iron Man _ standing behind him. 

 

He watched as the superhero’s face plate slipped up for a moment and the illusion was gone; now it  _ was  _ Mr. Stark, frowning down at him. The suit bent low to examine the boys shirt and the lanyard around his neck. The metal gauntlet pushed the mask back from Peter’s face and Mr. Stark’s mouth dropped.

 

“Peter?!”

 

“Mr.Stark, I…”

 

“Where is your----” He was cut off by the drones flying overhead, and he looked up, and then down at Peter, panic on his face. “Goddammit, I can’t…where did Aunt May go?”

 

Peter trembled as he pointed towards the exit, and ugh, Tony  _so_  didn’t have time for this, but he grabbed the kid in his arms and launched them up in to the air.

 

“JARVIS, facial recognition for May Parker.”

 

“Right away, Sir.”

 

It didn’t take more than a few seconds. She wasn’t far, and so Tony landed with the child in his arms and pressed him towards his Aunt’s.

 

“I believe this belongs to you.” He said, flipping back the face plate. “Get as far from the pavilion as you can, I’ll find you guys as soon as I take care of this.”

 

“Tony---” May stared, pulling Peter in tight.

 

“Go!”

 

And then he was gone in a plume of sparks, a blur of red and gold against a dark sky.

 

* * *

 

Mr. Stark came over that night. It was late; May had gotten them out of the grounds before everything started to explode. They made it back to the apartment, and Ms. Potts had called and told them they were stopping by before going to a hotel for the night.

 

Peter had never seen Tony like this. Tony entered the apartment and headed right for him with an uncharacteristic look of alarm on his face. He dropped down onto his knees, leaving May and Pepper behind him. He pressed his hands to Peter’s face, smoothing back his hair, looking him up and down.

 

“Are you okay?”

 

“Yeah. Yeah, Mr. Stark, I’m okay.”

 

But Tony didn’t seem satisfied. Peter looked at his Aunt over Tony’s shoulder, who was just standing back and letting the examination happen, a weird, sad look on her face. Ms. Potts looked equally concerned.

 

“Peter, why…” Mr. Stark started, then stopped, bowing his head. “Peter, you could have been really hurt tonight.”

 

“I wanted to help.” He grabbed onto Mr. Stark’s wrists. “I wanted to be like you.”

 

“Peter, your costume is a toy, and those drones----” He stopped himself, setting back on his heels. He watched as Tony waited, collecting himself, before he pressed his fingers to his lips. “Please promise me if you’re ever in a situation like that again, that you’ll stay with an adult? Or that you’ll try and go somewhere safe? Please?”  
  


“My hand slipped,” Peter replied softly; his lower lip began to tremble. “I didn’t mean to, I thought if I stayed there,  Aunt May could find me better.”

 

Tony turned to look at her, and she nodded, her expression growing more distressed. When Peter looked up at her, her mouth turned down. Peter looked back at Mr. Stark.

 

“It’s not Aunt May’s fault either.”

 

“It’s not anybody’s fault, Pete.” Tony reassured, grabbing on to his arms. “Or, maybe it’s just mine. I’m sorry, I was just worried about you. Can you promise me, though, if you find yourself in something like that again, you go find a grown up? Or you hide, away from the bad stuff?”

 

Peter nodded. “Yes, Mr. Stark.”

 

Tony’s mouth twitched, like he wanted to laugh but decided against it. “You can call me Tony, Peter. Doesn’t always have to be with the Mr. Stark, you know.”

 

“Aunt May says grown ups are Mister and Missus or Miss.”

 

“Well,” Tony cocked his head to the side. “Maybe we can talk to her and see about that. I just wanted you to know, either way.”

 

“Mr. Stark?”

 

Tony couldn’t suppress a smile. “Yeah kid?”

 

“Why did the robots do that?”

 

“Just a bit of bad computer language, kid,” He smiled tightly, and Peter was almost sure there was something Mr. Stark wasn’t telling him. “We got it all figured out though. The robots aren’t going to hurt anyone else again.”

 

“Because Iron Man was there. You kept us safe.”

 

Peter’s voice had stopped trembling, and Tony regarded him for a moment. The boys chin jutted out and his chest opened up and he fixed Tony with an expression of utter faith and trust. A lump formed at the base of Tony's throat, and he swallowed.

 

“I’m always gonna do what I have to to keep you safe, Pete. I promise.”

 

“Aunt May too?”

 

Tony turned to look at the women behind him; they had been so quiet, he wasn't sure they were still standing there. He offered her an earnest, comforting smile, hoping she wasn't putting this on herself. He turned back to Peter a soft smile on his face.

 

“Aunt May too.”

 

* * *

 

******Summer 2012**

 

 _Of course_  this would happen on her day off.

 

May and Peter hadn’t had a day out together in some time. Work was crazy, Peter was in school, and Tony was living in New York most of the time to oversee the Tower that was being completed downtown. That was nice, of course; May could use all the help she could get and rent wasn’t getting any cheaper.

 

So they were busy. And Peter of course lived with her, they ate dinner as often as they could together but the rat race had gotten the best of them and it felt like it had been forever since they’d done something together outside of their small apartment. So today was an Aunt and nephew day; a go out and explore the city day. One of the museums had an exhibit Peter wanted to see, and May wanted to go to the park and enjoy the weather and there was a little diner they hadn’t eaten at in ages that they loved….

 

Which is where they were, when the hole opened up in the sky.

 

May wasn’t sure what to do. She sat, frozen in terror and confusion as a blue beam shot into the atmosphere and the gaping, black hole expanded. Memories from a decade ago washed over her and her heart began to race. She looked over at Peter, who just looked confused but then his eyes widened and pointed into the air.

 

“Aunt May, it’s Mr. Stark!”

 

She swung around to look and sure enough, a blur of red cut low through the streets. People began to scream as...something---more than one something,  _hundreds_  of them----began to spill from the hole in the sky and that’s when she began to hear explosions.

 

“Peter, get up right now! We have to go.” She jumped to her feet and hurried him to stand, grabbing his drawstring pack in one hand and gripping him tightly by the arm with the other. She began to pull him towards the building as the noise began to grow, the roar of devastation erupting from all sides.

 

“Aunt May, I just want to see----”

 

“Peter!” May grabbed his arm, pulling him back. “What did Tony say? What did he say after the Expo?”

 

“But Aunt May!” Peter cried, squirming in an attempt to escape her grip. “Aunt May, he’s...he’s….”

 

She pulled him towards her, engulfing him in a hug. She turned him away from the broken glass storefront so he couldn’t see the road and the carnage, even as he fought against her. “It’s gonna be okay. It’s gonna be alright, Peter, I promise.”

 

She knew he didn’t believe her. She knew that that wasn’t even what he was worried about; not about them, but Tony Stark, out in the street, battling monsters with other superheroes, and there wasn’t anything she could do except keep him here in the diner, out of harm's way.

 

Tony would be fine. Tony was always, fine.

 

* * *

 

May and Peter made it back to their apartment by walking across the 59th street bridge. May looked back every now and then at the wreckage, at the smoke and the destroyed buildings and couldn’t help but think of the only other time she walked home from Manhattan this same way over 10 years before.

 

She shook that away. No need to bring in any more misery. She pulled Peter closer to her, and he looked up her, his face covered in dust, streaked muddy where his tears had fallen. She wiped at his face as he trudged along and he attempted a smile, before letting his head drop once more and keeping up with her pace.

 

She had him shower first, before she turned on the television. She filled a couple glasses with water on the counter and began to preheat the over for a frozen pizza, though she knew neither of them were very hungry. She checked her phone. There was nothing from Tony or from Pepper, no messages except one text from Jim Rhodes asking her if they were alright. She answered him that they were, and to please call right away when they knew about Tony.

 

The newscasters didn’t seem to have any answers. Central Manhattan had been decimated and there were no news trucks close to wherever Tony Stark had hit the ground.

 

But he had. The camera’s had at least captured that. The image of Iron Man, a missile on his back, flying up into a gaping void in the atmosphere and then…

 

Nothing.

 

Quiet.

 

And then a dot of red, hurtling towards the ground, grabbed in midair by the Hulk, before he disappeared between the buildings.

 

May felt a sick feeling swell under her ribs. The same feeling she’d had when the police had called her to come down to the station the night her husband had died, when she’d seen Peter sitting there in the precinct, blood on his jacket, tears on his face.

 

Tony Stark couldn’t be dead. He just...he couldn’t.

 

She heard the shower shut off and forced herself to calm down. She sat on one of the stools near the counter, taking a sip of some water and forced a smile on her face. Peter emerged from the bathroom, dressed in pajamas and damp, stringy hair, and his eyes widened at the site of her.

 

“You heard from him?”

 

Her smile faltered. “No, honey. I didn’t yet. But I’m sure it’s only a matter of time.”

 

She took her chance to get clean then. Peter was 10, he knew how to work the stove, so she told him to take the food out when it was done if she wasn’t out in enough time. She washed her hair twice with shampoo until the water ran clean, and stood under the warm spray for a few extra minutes, trying to process her day.

 

She was out of the shower, drying off and changing when she heard Peter yell. She dressed quickly and burst from the room to find the door to their apartment wide open, and Tony Stark with his arms around her kid, who was crying loudly. He looked up at the sound of her approaching.

 

He looked...alright, considering the day he’d had. She supposed it had taken them almost 2 hours to get back to Queens alone, so it wasn’t that surprising he was able to be there. He had bags under his eyes and he looked absolutely exhausted, but he was here, and he was holding Peter, rubbing the kids back and trying to get him to calm down.

 

“I thought you were  _dead_.” Peter sobbed. “I thought you were…” and his breath started to catch and hiccup, and she saw Tony pull him in closer and close his eyes.

 

“I’m alright, Pete. I’m alright, it’s okay….come on, buddy, calm down, it’s alright.”

 

He looked up at May, still holding the boy. “Tears, huh? Even May Parker happy to see me?”

 

She coughed a laugh, not even realizing she was crying, but she brought a hand and felt her cheek was wet. “Well, you did just save the entire city from nuclear destruction and an alien invasion so I suppose there’s a few I can spare.”

 

His expression twitched at that. He squeezed Peter one more time, and then pulled him to arms length, looking directly into his face. “I’m sorry, but I can’t stay long. My armor is parked outside, and I just wanted to swing by and make sure you guys were okay.” He wiped gently at Peter’s face while the boy gasped for breath, his hands now at his sides. Tony pushed himself to his feet, moving a hand to the top of Peter’s head. “There’s still some business I need to attend to.”

 

“I can only imagine.” May whispered, walking closer to them. She pulled Peter to her, and he clung to her side, staring up at Tony.

 

He’d always been Tony. He’d always been the guy who had wandered into their lives by chance and stepped in when they needed something like that the most. He had been a friend at best, and even through all his escapades as the Iron Man, May had still considered it a pet project of Tony’s, one that served to mostly feed his ego. Sure, he’d halted war crimes, thousands of miles away but today…

 

Today she had seen it firsthand. Today, it had been real. Today, Tony had been willing to die alone in the vacuum of space for millions of people he didn’t  _even know_ , and a few that he did.

 

Her eyes teared up again and she stepped around Peter, embracing Tony as well, much to his surprise.

 

“Thank you.” She whispered. “I just...thank you, Tony.”

 

He was clearly taken off guard by it. May had hugged him only a couple of times before, but this was different. He returned it, patting her on the back for a moment before she pulled back, smiling self-consciously.

 

“You guys are alright though, right?” He asked softly, looking between them. “I know Rhodey checked in, but I wanted to see for myself…”

 

“Wait. How did you know we were even downtown?”

 

A pink flush blossomed on Tony’s face and his eyes darted upwards. “Well. Your phones…”

 

May frowned. “You track us?”  
  


“Not  _actively_.” He defended. “I just have an alert. If you’re ever within a 100 yard radius of something like this, to let me know where. I configured it after the Expo with our little cos-player here.” He grinned down Peter, then gave May a sheepish look.“I just wanted to make sure you guys were okay.”

 

“We are.” May replied, smiling at him. “How is Pepper?”

 

He grimaced. “Um, mad. She is...she is pretty mad. But, i think in that, i can’t believe i almost lost you way and not in the, how dare you do something so stupid way? I don’t know, it may be a little of both.” He sighed, running a hand through his hair. “She’s on her way back to the city. She should be here in about an hour.” He looked at his watch. “I probably need to be getting back to the tower pretty soon. You guys are sure you’re okay?”

 

“Yeah, we are. And you?”

 

Tony huffed a little laugh. He looked down at Peter, and rubbed at his head affectionately. “I think i’ll make it.” He looked back up at her, but his eyes told a different story, and she quickly found it suspect that he was anywhere close to okay.

 

“Well, let us know if there’s anything we can do.” She offered. “If you need a break, maybe you and Pepper can come over for dinner sometime in the next couple weeks.”

 

“That would be nice,” He admitted. “She would love to see you, and…” He sighed. “I’ll ask her. It’s just gonna be a madhouse for awhile.”

 

“I can imagine.” May repeated and leaned against the counter, her arms crossed in front of her. “Do you need me to do anything----”

 

Tony waved his hand, eyes rolling up towards the ceiling. “No...no.” He shook his head, and his hand settled on Peter, who looked up at his mentor expectantly. “Just keep him in line. Easy enough right?”

 

He smiled tiredly at May, and she felt another pang of concern, though she only returned the smile. She looked down towards her nephew, brightening her expression.

 

“Tony has a lot of stuff to do Pete. How about you walk him out and say goodbye so he can get to that? We gotta eat and go to bed, it’s been a long day.” She nodded at him, sparing a look at Tony. “Thank you again. For everything. We don’t want to keep you.”

 

Tony gave her one last, grateful smile before turned to follow Peter to the open door. As he turned to say goodbye, Peter flung his arms around the man’s waist one more time, burying his face in Tony’s shirt. Tony’s hand settled on the boys damp hair, staying there for a quiet moment as he looked down at him with a tender look on his face. He bent down, muttering something May couldn’t hear but made Peter look up at him, beaming. Peter seemed to squeeze just a bit tighter before releasing him.

 

“Bye, Mr. Stark!” He waved at the man, May assumed, until he was out of sight, and closed the front door with a happy sigh. He walked over to where May had by now removed the lightly burned pizza from the oven and slid it onto the kitchen island, climbing up onto a stool to help himself to a piece. “I’m so glad he’s okay!”   
  


May smiled at him, but then looked at the door.

 

“Yeah,” She said softly, hoping Peter couldn’t hear the hesitation there. “Yeah, me too.”

 

* * *

 

 

**December 2013**

 

To say that the current terrorist du jour was ruining Peter’s Christmas was an understatement.

 

Ms. Potts had called Aunt May one night, upset and with the news that Mr. Hogan had gotten into a terrible accident. It had been another one of those explosions, Aunt May had explained later, at the Chinese Theater in LA. That Mr. Hogan had been badly hurt. And that Mr. Stark was furious.

 

“ ** _I’m not afraid of you._** ”

 

Peter had watched him threaten the terrorist just like everyone else had and then a day later, had watched in abject horror as missiles were fired upon the home Peter himself had stayed at and played in, watched as it crumbled into the water below, gone forever.

 

He hadn’t wanted to but he had cried all night. Aunt May had stayed up with him, the two of them curled on the couch, waiting for any news that he might have survived.

 

It had taken a little bit of time, but they’d gotten it. A secure message, sent from Pepper, encrypted in a special group app on a phone Tony had set up just for Aunt May. There weren’t any real details but she told them he was alive, that he was somewhere safe and that she would keep them updated as they figured stuff out.

  
But then she had gone radio silent. And then, on Christmas Eve, the news broke in the middle of the showing of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer to show the President was in trouble, and there was fire and explosions and what looked like a hundred Iron Man suits and---

 

And Tony had called May, sometime in the early hours on Christmas morning, just to let them know that he and Pepper and Colonel Rhodes were okay. Peter was asleep by then out of pure exhaustion, and while he would maintain, for the rest of his life, that the guy on TV had ruined his Christmas, he wasn’t sure there was anything else he really had gone to sleep wanting more than knowing that Mr. Stark was going to be okay.

 

* * *

 

 

Tony adjusted his blazer before knocking on May Parker’s door. He hadn’t bothered to have Happy bring him to Queens, nor had he grabbed a suit to fly over. He’d opted for the drive himself, preferring the sink himself into the quiet of his car after the last week of press and SHIELD debriefings and more than one serious conversation with Pepper over a multitude of issues that had arisen in the wake of Aldrich Killian’s attacks.

 

May opened the door, her surprise at his presence evident. She was drying her hands on a towel, and he could hear the kitchen faucet running behind her. She motioned with her head for him to enter and walked away to shut if off, turn to face him with a curious look on her face when she heard him shut the front door behind him.

 

“Gotta say, I’m surprised to see you here. Figured you’d have your hands full at the moment.”

 

He gave her a sardonic grin. “My cup hath indeed overflown. I was just in the neighborhood and I figured…”

 

She seemed skeptical but still nodded and leaned against the counter.  “Peter’s not here, he’s staying over at Ned’s.” She folded the hand towel and rested it near the sink. “They have been talking about nothing but your new year’s eve party since you invited them last week. You sure you’re up for that still?”

 

He waved it off. “Yeah, yeah, it’ll be a little bit of normalcy after the shitshow the last few weeks has been. But I actually wanted to talk to you. About that. And some other stuff.”

 

He looked up at her, and May had a sinking feeling.

 

Silence filled the kitchen. May let him take his time, grabbing two mugs from the cabinet over the sink and pouring some coffee for them both before placing it in front of him. He accepted it with a grateful smile before sliding onto a stool near the kitchen island and she watched as he seemed to go over it in his head before emitting a deep sigh.

 

“Aldrich Killian used the people I love against me.” Tony began softly. “He knew who I was close to and he targeted them. There was a personal vendetta tied into his overall plan. Hurting me was part of this all along.”

 

May didn’t say anything. She couldn’t deny that it wasn’t something she’d grown concerned about since Tony had taken on the mantle of superhero in the past few years. It wasn’t a secret that Tony and Peter were still close. She’d had talk shows reach out and ask her for scoops about his relationship with the Parker’s---there had even been a brief rumor, before he and Pepper had made their own relationship public, that he and May had something going on behind the scenes.

 

May didn’t wholly understand the fascination but she understood how the public and the media honed in on his personal life like vultures. Had wondered, more than once and especially after the Battle of New York, if she were inviting danger into their lives by being so close to him.

 

“I know I’m not like...like his dad.” Tony looked down at the counter-top, drumming his fingertips as he spoke quietly. “But I do love that kid, May. Like, I love him, i’d do anything for him and I can’t be the reason….” He shook his head with a sniff. “Killian  _knew_  how to get to me with Pepper. Hell, he probably knew about Peter too, but he was just inconvenient. This time.” He looked up at May. “If being close to me gets him hurt or killed, that’s on me. Like I think about the Expo and the Hammer drones…” Tony shook his head again. “I promised him I would do what I could to keep him safe. To keep you both safe.”

 

“You just invited him to the Tower for New Years Eve.” She started slowly. “Do I need to prepare for a devastated 12 year old to kick off the new year?”

 

Tony shook his head. “ _No_. No, that’s not…The Avengers stuff, it’s becoming more and more time consuming. Between that and this...I just don’t know if I’m going to be around as much.”

 

“He understands that.”

 

“I know but…” Tony sighed. “It’s gonna be more than before. More time away. And I think it would be in his best interest, and in yours even, to just put a little distance there. Be more discreet. We can’t be going to plays and ball games and having the photos splashed everywhere. I don’t want another megalomaniac coming out of the woodwork and setting their sights on him next.”

 

And May couldn’t argue with that. Especially now that the Avengers were part of the picture. Especially now that their profile had grown so much in the wake of what had happened in New York.

 

She just needed to figure out what to tell Peter.

 

“I can talk to him about it,” She said, sliding into a seat across from Tony. “I’ll make sure he understands we’re still going to be around each other, but i’ll try and make it clear he needs to keep it a little more to himself.” She sipped at her coffee. “This has been bothering you a lot, hasn’t it?”

 

A short, sharp laugh escaped him. “Bit of an understatement, yeah,” He shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. “It’s just been an insane month, you know?”

 

More like an insane few years.

 

“This is more than just that Killian guy, isn’t it?”

 

Tony stared at her. He sighed and pushed himself up straighter, working the inside of his cheek as his eyes darted around the room. He was trying, she assumed, to figure out what he wanted to tell her---a lie, or the truth. And for some reason, both possibilities unsettled her.

 

Because if he was considering the lie...the truth had to be worse.

 

“I hadn’t wanted to say anything.” He began, and this time, he looked right at her. “I don’t want to scare anyone but May, what I _saw_ during our fight in midtown, out in space?” He shook his head, closing his eyes to ward off the bad feelings that spilled in. “There’s something else out there. There’s something else…” The unspoken on it’s way hung in the air. “And I have to do everything in my power to make sure the people in my life that I care about are safe. That’s Pepper, and Rhodey, and Peter and you.”

 

She wanted to tell him that she and Peter, that they would be alright. But it was comforting, in a way, to know he cared. And she understood, as Peter’s aunt, as the closest thing he had to a mother, how it felt to need to protect something you loved that much. And there was just one thing she wanted Tony to understand about that. She reached out and took his hand, and his brows raised in surprise.

 

“You are kind of wrong, about one thing. You and I, we’re not his parents. He had those, and they’re gone. But we’re the closest thing he’s had to them in a long time. We fit in that spot in his life. I know he thinks of you like that.” Tony looked away from her, down at the ground. “I will talk to Peter. I’ll let him know that we’re going to have to keep a lower profile. But I want to make something clear, Tony.”

  
He looked up at her once more.

 

“You’re like family. You’re welcome here at any time, it’s why you have a key. You do what you have to do. You’ve already proven yourself to us anyway.”

 

He looked bashful, but he managed a small smile. “Thanks, May.” He replied quietly. “That means a lot to hear.”

 

She pulled her hand back. “I have to pick up Peter soon---”

 

“Yeah, I,” He pushed back from the counter, shaking his head with a sniff. “I gotta get back to the Tower. With the house being...gone...and there’s some stuff with Pepper I’ll let her fill you in on,” He smiled---and May loved that smile, the one he always had when he talked about Pepper. “But you guys are coming tomorrow night, right? It’s only gonna be us and the team, which I think the kids are more excited about than the fireworks.”  
  


“If I remember correctly, Ned got so excited he almost started crying.”

 

Tony laughed and shuffled to his feet. “Good, then. We’ll see you then. Do _not_ bring anything,” And it was an argument they’d had before. “Seriously, we’re gonna have so much food.”

 

“I will not bring any food,” She promised, walking towards the door. “Thanks again for stopping by, Tony. I really appreciate you being open about all of this with me, it helps with everything more than you know.”

 

“Yeah, well,” He shrugged. “I don’t want to start going MIA and have him think it’s something he did. And thank you, for all the….other stuff.” He made a motion with his hand and blushed. “I’ll see you tomorrow night.”

 

She closed the door behind him as he left, thinking about how she was looking forward to tomorrow night. She couldn’t wait to catch up with Pepper---something about what Tony said made her more concerned than before with what had happened in Miami. And she was looking forward to finally meeting Steve Rogers. For reasons.

 

Tony was so weird about her chipping in though. No food, he always hosted, she supposed it was how he showed people he cared. So she was fine giving in there, she would hold to her promise of no food.

  
He hadn’t said anything about sparkling cider or champagne.


End file.
